Thursday, May 05, 2011

On May 1, 2011 thousands rallied for health care as a human right in Montpelier, Vermont.

For three years a grassroots movement for universal healthcare has been building in Vermont thanks to the Vermont Workers Center. On March 24, the house passed H202, a bill that puts Vermont on the road to having universal healthcare.

Yet before the activists could celebrate the consideration of universal healthcare in Vermont, they had to contend with a last minute amendment that would have made the bill less than universal; the Brock-Sears amendment would explicitly exclude undocumented workers.

The day after this May 1 rally the Brock-Sears Amendment was struck down in conference committee. The committee was responding specifically to grassroots pressure from healthcare activists who called, wrote, marched, rallied and spent days at the statehouse talking to lawmakers. This is democracy in action, and proves that grassroots organizing works.

1 comment:

I'm very excited to see universal healthcare instituted in Vermont. This is a wonderful development and I hope that Vermont is a model for other states and that ultimately we have a nationwide system that will protect the most vulnerable citizens.

One of the elements of healthcare that is punishing to our economy is connecting it to employment. One, if you get laid off you are just completely devastated without an income or healthcare. Also, employees are often tied their positions when they might want to start their own business or move onto another job and employers have a variable cost that employers have trouble budgeting for year in and year out.